A Degree from UGA Means More! A degree in computer science from UGA can provide you with a stronger skillset and excellent employment opportunities. Classes cover more information in more depth than at other schools. More analytic thinking and coding practice are required here. Your school may not have prepared you for the rigor of the courses you’ll find here, but there are ways to help make that up. This page describes what you can expect as a CSCI transfer student at UGA. First Advising Session You will meet with an academic advisor during your orientation session. Please note that we are unable to hold advising sessions for incoming students prior to orientation. Any courses that do not transfer as direct UGA equivalents according to our Transfer Equivalency Database can be re-evaluated. Your advisor will give you direction on how to do this. Even if the courses do not end up as direct UGA CSCI equivalents, you will still receive elective credit for the courses. Your advisor will help you plan a schedule based on your transfer credits. They will also consider the content and rigor of any CS courses you completed at other institutions. Computer Science as a discipline builds on foundational knowledge gained in the introductory courses and rushing into courses without adequate preparation can lead to a much larger setback than starting in the right class. Please remember that your advisor's suggestions are made with your success in mind. In addition to creating a plan with your advisor, we recommend reading our Undergraduate Course Selection Guide. This will help you understand the prerequisite knowledge required for our introductory courses. Your advisor will recommend enrolling in UNIV 2302 Success for Transfer Students. Make sure you take their advice as this important elective will help ease your transition by orienting you to all the resources here on campus. Your First Month UGA’s Office of Transfer Services offers several resources to help transfer students during their first month at UGA. Start at https://transfer.uga.edu and be sure to click the Success tab. Follow the suggestions under “Your First Month” at https://transfer.uga.edu/on_campus/your-first-month/. Further Advice for Transfer Student Success Attend Office Hours: Your TAs and professors will hold office hours each week where you can come for help or review material. These office hours are dedicated to helping students in their classes and you are encouraged to attend as often as possible! Be proactive – do not wait until you fall behind to attend office hours. Attend Tutoring: Right away, at the beginning of the term, line up tutoring sessions and participate in study pods. These services are free from the Office for Student Success and Achievement. There are options online and face-to-face. You can learn all about it and schedule an appointment at https://ossa.uga.edu/services/peer-tutoring/. Form Study Groups: Don’t hesitate to talk to other students in your classes. Form a study group, and practice together with other students. Just make sure you follow the collaboration policies for your course(s) and the UGA Honesty Policies. Never share code or answers to graded assignments: UGA takes academic honesty seriously. Review Services for Transfer Students: Franklin College’s Office of Transfer Academic Services (OTAS) can provide resources and guidance. Explore their site at https://osas.franklin.uga.edu/transfer-academic-services. They can also line you up with a Transfer Ambassador. Connect with an Alumni Mentor: The free Mentor program through the Career Center can connect you with an industry professional who has graduated from UGA. Get started at https://mentor.uga.edu/. Build Good Study Habits: Review your class notes before and after class each day, start homework assignments early, and use a personal calendar to help you stay on top of assignments and deadlines. The Office for Student Success and Achievement offers a free Academic Coaching service that can help you adopt or improve these habits in a holistic way that will support your academic goals and take into consideration all your classes. You can learn all about it and schedule an appointment at https://ossa.uga.edu/services/academic-coaching/. Practice Coding Regularly: Keep your skills sharp by practicing in between semesters and when you have free time during the semester. There are three popular sites below that we recommend. Don’t feel obligated to solve all of the problems on each site. Simply pick a problem each day (or every few days) that covers a topic you need to review and do the best you can. If you get stuck, many of the problems have solutions available. Just make sure to try them on your own first! CodingBat: Designed with beginners in mind, this site offers small, self-contained problems and immediate feedback. The problems also increase in difficulty. For transfer students starting in CSCI 1302 at UGA, we recommend focusing on the problems under the “Warmup”, “Logic”, "String" and "Array" groups. Start with the basic problems (Level 1) and work up to medium and harder problems (Level 2 and 3). Students who have taken CSCI 1302 (or a similar course) can work through the other problems on the site. Practice-IT: Used at many schools to supplement nightly reading assignments with hands-on practice. Here, you can work through problems on specific topics to help you review and strengthen your skills. LeetCode: Designed to help CS majors with the technical interview process, this site is useful to students throughout the curriculum. We recommend starting your journey on LeetCode once you get to the Data Structures (CSCI 2720) course at UGA. Join a Student Organization: Display your passion for the industry by joining a CS-focused organization. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM): Join their Discord server and watch for their emails, or email them at ugaacm@uga.edu. Girls.Code() (ACM-W): Contact through the ACM Discord server or email ugagirls.code@gmail.com. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) UGAHacks DevDogs / Google Developer Groups on Campus: UGA: Visit their LinkTree to join and learn more, or email them at devdogs@uga.edu. For more student organizations, many CS-related, see the College of Engineering's Clubs + Organizations page and the UGA Involvement Network page. When searching through the UGA Involvement Network, you can filter your search for "Technology Community," but there are many others of interest to CS students! Questions? Finally, do not hesitate to reach out to your academic advisor with any questions. They may not know the answer, but they know who does know the answer. Everyone at UGA wants you to succeed, but in order to do so, it’s important to reach out for help when you need it!
